1. State an issue.
2. Students take a stand on the issue on the continuum between Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree.
3. Students line-up and move to that spot on the line.
4. Students pair-up with the person next to them and discuss why they took that stand.
5. Fold the line in half so that the Strongly Agree students join the Strongly Disagree students in pairs and discuss their different perspectives. OR Split the line in the centre, and have the people in the centre walk to the end of the line to partner with Strongly Agree and discuss.
Jigsaw Team
1. Teams of 4 students (this works better than other numbers because of the learning pairs, so nobody is left out)
2. Individually: Each student on the team has a different assignment that s/he masters.
3. Share: Each student shares or teaches the new knowledge to teammates.
Stand and Deliver
1. After the Jigsaw Team the teacher poses a question or problem.
2. The team stands and discusses the problem.
3. When all members of the team can name and explain all the elements, the team may sit down.
4. Teacher randomly asks individual team members to respond.
Think-Pair-Share
1. Problem is posed.
2. Students think alone about the question for a specific amount of time.
3. Pairs are formed and the pair discuss their responses.
4. Pairs share their answers with team and/or teacher collects answers to be shared with the whole class.
Numbered Heads Together
1. Students in the team number off (1,2,3,4)
2. Teacher asks a question or presents a problem.
3. Students put their heads together. Students can also be paired according to number.
4. Teacher calls a random number, student with that number responds
5. Modification: answer on group slate, choral response, standing up, thumbs up/down, allowed to "pass"
Brainstorming
1. Each student gets a stack of sticky-notes
2. Record one idea on each slip of paper.
3. Group reads all responses and place them on the table for all to see.
4. Generate new ideas together.
5. Group similar ideas together.
Labeled Sort
1. Deal out an equal number of items to each group member.
2. Each person takes a turn and shares their item with the rest of the team.
3. As a team, decide which category the items fit.
4. Label each category.
Appointment Card
1. This activity is be used for finding discussion partners.
2. Each student is given an appointment card with numbers 1-10 on it.
3. Teacher makes the cards, leaving #5 blank for the student to fill-in him/herself.
4. When it's time for a discussion activity, the teacher calls a number, and that's the partner the student will work with.
5. Modification for a large group of students who don't know each other, who will be working togethether on a project: Top 3, tell the students to find a) someone they don't know, b) someone of the opposite sex, c) someone they want to learn something from (or any other criteria). Then the students find three people, and write down their names. When the teacher calls out a number they go and find that person.
Simultaneous Roundtable
1. Each student gets a page with the following headings: Personal Statement, Response 1, Response 2, Response 3, Reflection based upon responses.
2. The teacher asks a question or problem, the student writes their own thoughts in Personal Statement. (this activity works well as a summary or reflection activity).
3. The student then sends around their sheet of paper to the other team members who comment.
4. Student then reflects based upon comments.
Stand-up, Sit-down
1. Teacher makes a statement
2. If it applies to you, stand up.
3. New statement, repeat.
Placemats
1. Each group is given an A3 page divided as shown below.
2. Teacher gives a problem or question.
3. Each student writes their answer in their own corner.
4. Each student reads their own answers, others circle answers as others name the ones they have.
5. Collaborative answer in the middle: agree upon and most important parts.
placemat.gif
Everyone's an Expert
In this exercise works well when the information being learned or reviewed can be broken into themes.
For this example I'm going to use the elements of fiction: character, plot, point of view, setting, conflict.
Divide the class into 5 groups.
Assign each group one element and define the research you want them to do. This could include: reading part of a chapter from the textbook or an article, doing research to answer specific questions, or developing examples. For example, each group could be asked to do the following:
Read p. x in Crossroads 8B about point of view.
Talk with your group about what point of view is.
Write a definition in your own words explaining point of view.
Listen to the story "Johnathan Cleaned Up" by Robert Munsch. (Every group should listen to the same story)
Discuss what the point of view of the story was and then write at least three sentences to explain.
Each group works together so that everyone in the group becomes an expert. Together they should create a handout for the rest of the class based on their answers.
Re-arrange the groups so that there is one representative from each of the original 5 groups in each new group (one person from character, plot, point of view, setting, conflict).
Each student gets the chance to teach the others about their element. The "expert" distributes the handout and the others make notes as the "expert" tells them about that element of fiction.
What Do We Know?
This exercise works well when introducing a new topic. For example: The Maori of New Zealand.
Ask students to write continuously for 5 minutes about everything they know (or think they know) about the Maori people. (individual)
After 5 minutes have students pair up and share what they wrote. They should discuss to decide what information they were certain about, and what was less certain.
Two pairs should then join and share information. By this point they should have some information that they're quite sure is correct, and other things they're less sure about. The four students then develop some questions that they're curious to find the answers to based on their discussion.
The entire class then discusses what they know and what they're interested to find out (some groups may have answers for others). This is a good starting point for then reading a text about the Maori people, or a short story like "Whale Rider"
Stations
Create different centres for students to move between and complete activities at each.
Variation: Have 2-3 students create a station (purpose, info to be learned, activity) and then all students rotate through all the stations.
Keywords
1. Students brainstorm keywords about a topic and write them on the board. Each student shares one.
2. In pairs, have students sort the keywords into 3-5 groups
3. Name the groups.
4. Assign groups to each circle for group projects, or use the groups to see what they know, use it as a review, or have them make sentences and synonyms with the ideas.
Red Light, Green Light
A discussion exercise that allows students to express their opinions with coloured cards.
1. Put a question to the group.
2. Get them to respond by raising a card: agree (green), neutral (yellow), disagree (red).
3. By group, or individually, elicit feedback and conversation.
Tableau
A drama exercise. Represent the central conflict by creating a tableau (frozen picture) with students in the roles.
-Choose a moment before/after the conflict to show pros/cons of a situation or idea, an emotion, belief, or abstract concept.
-Engage group in creating particular environment, elicit ideas for how it should be constructed, the main roles and important actions
-Start with one student in the tableau, as each student joins they have to add to the overall scene.
-Give students the chance to step-out of the tableau to observe the whole.
-Variation: each student does a gesture or says a line.
This exercise can lead into TOTO (below).
Sculpting
Like the tableau, but one student has an idea and sculpts the others into a frozen image.
-Sculptor must physically position the bodies to ensure it's their vision being sculpted.
-The rest of the class observes / discusses the conflict being illustrated.
Hot Seat
One student (or the teacher) sits in the middle and is interviewed by everyone else. The person on the hot seat may ask for help. Help can be defined as trading with someone else, a jump-in, advice.
Role-on-the-Wall
The outline of a person is placed on a wall.
1. Students write (brainstorm) on the inside of the cut-out everything they (or the character) is thinking and feeling (internal struggle)
2. Around the cut-out they write the external factors they (or the character) is facing.
3. Discussion follow-up: What advice might you give the person?
Alphabet Race
This exercise can work as a brainstorming activity, or as a review activity.
1. Divide the class into teams of 6-8. Line two groups up beside each other - they'll be competing against each other.
2.On the wall in front of the groups is a sheet of paper with the alphabet and space beside each letter.
3. The teacher gives the topic, (ex.action words) and the person at the front of the line runs up and writes something for A, the next for B etc.
4. The row who gets through the entire alphabet first wins.
5. Collect the papers at the front of the room. Cross-off duplicate answers and review.
6. If this was a brainstorm, have each group choose the 5 most important ideas from their own, or another list.
Teacher-in-role
1. The teacher takes on a role and acts the part.
2. Students interact with the character, ask her questions.
3. Students can be given supporting roles based on a discussion/brainstorm about the background and what other roles are required.
Graffiti Board
This is a good warm-up and reflection activity.
1. Give a topic (American Indians).
2. Ask all students to go up to the chalkboard and write down keywords based on what they already know/remember.
3. Review what is on the board and use it to frame future discussions/lessons.
Role-in-a-Bag
1. Bring 4-5 objects centered around a theme.
2. Use the objects to have students construct a character around a theme.
3. Examine and discuss the objects and how they correlate, what they would mean to the character.
Example: The topic is WWII. The objects are a felt Star of David, a primary school workbook, some marbles
-Who might this person have been? Age? Religion? Likes and dislikes? Family?
-Based on what know about WWII, what might his/her experience have been?
-What might have happened to him/her?
There could be a second bag of objects for another person, and then they could discuss how they interacted, compare/contrast the two.
Next steps could be an improvisation, writing a story, drawing a picture, making a tableau.
Theater of the Oppressed (TOTO)
This can be used for the conflict in a story, for teaching about bullying, for teaching students about peer helping etc.
1. Facilitator makes a tableau using students as the characters. The tableau should show conflict or unrest.
2. Next the group works together to create a new tableau that shows a solution, or "perfection" in what is trying to be achieved.
3. Take both tableaus and discuss the in-between steps from conflict to resolution.
This activity could stop there, or next steps can be taken to further the scenario.
4. Groups take the tableau and turn it into a short scenario with roles: main oppressor/main oppressed, subsidiary oppressor/oppressed, allies/floaters
5. The group performs the scene for the class.
6. The group performs the scene again for the class, this time classmates can yell "stop" and pause the action. At this point the person who yelled stop can change the direction of the scene by making a suggestion, or can come-up and try out an idea. Note: the class can only help/replace the oppressed character. The oppressor must stay in their role and cannot have any help. This helps students see that a situation might be difficult, but that there are always choices and it is possible for the opressed person to develop strategies to change the situation.
Listening Pairs
This is a good reflection or review exercise.
1. Students assigned either role A or role B.
2. In pairs As are required to answer the question posed by the teacher. Bs listen without speaking.
3. New round, switch partners. Bs talk, As listen.
4. Repeat.
This activity could be adapted to have each partner do a pro/con etc.
Hey Classmates!
This is an icebreaker, but it could be adapted for other uses.
1. Students sit in a circle, with a leader in the middle.
2. Leader says: "Hey Classmates!", the class responds "Hey *person's name*"
3. The leader then says "I love my classmates, especially those who..."
4. Everyone to whom the statement applies stands up and finds another chair. The person left over becomes the leader.
Other
You can use the following list to reflect upon the types of activities you use to engage learners in the classroom, this might give you an idea of where to focus your energies:
Cooperative learning (small groups of students)
Using real-life problems
Group projects
Multiple drafts of written work
Student evaluations of one another's work
Reflective writing/journaling
Electronic quizzes with immediate feedback in class
Extensive lecturing (not student-centered)
Selected examination methods
Short-answer exams
Term and research papers with a single deadline
Term and research papers with a deadline for draft/final versions
Multiple-choice exams
Table of Contents
Agree-Disagree Lineups (Human Barometer)
1. State an issue.2. Students take a stand on the issue on the continuum between Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree.
3. Students line-up and move to that spot on the line.
4. Students pair-up with the person next to them and discuss why they took that stand.
5. Fold the line in half so that the Strongly Agree students join the Strongly Disagree students in pairs and discuss their different perspectives. OR Split the line in the centre, and have the people in the centre walk to the end of the line to partner with Strongly Agree and discuss.
Jigsaw Team
1. Teams of 4 students (this works better than other numbers because of the learning pairs, so nobody is left out)2. Individually: Each student on the team has a different assignment that s/he masters.
3. Share: Each student shares or teaches the new knowledge to teammates.
Stand and Deliver
1. After the Jigsaw Team the teacher poses a question or problem.2. The team stands and discusses the problem.
3. When all members of the team can name and explain all the elements, the team may sit down.
4. Teacher randomly asks individual team members to respond.
Think-Pair-Share
1. Problem is posed.2. Students think alone about the question for a specific amount of time.
3. Pairs are formed and the pair discuss their responses.
4. Pairs share their answers with team and/or teacher collects answers to be shared with the whole class.
Numbered Heads Together
1. Students in the team number off (1,2,3,4)2. Teacher asks a question or presents a problem.
3. Students put their heads together. Students can also be paired according to number.
4. Teacher calls a random number, student with that number responds
5. Modification: answer on group slate, choral response, standing up, thumbs up/down, allowed to "pass"
Brainstorming
1. Each student gets a stack of sticky-notes2. Record one idea on each slip of paper.
3. Group reads all responses and place them on the table for all to see.
4. Generate new ideas together.
5. Group similar ideas together.
Labeled Sort
1. Deal out an equal number of items to each group member.2. Each person takes a turn and shares their item with the rest of the team.
3. As a team, decide which category the items fit.
4. Label each category.
Appointment Card
1. This activity is be used for finding discussion partners.2. Each student is given an appointment card with numbers 1-10 on it.
3. Teacher makes the cards, leaving #5 blank for the student to fill-in him/herself.
4. When it's time for a discussion activity, the teacher calls a number, and that's the partner the student will work with.
5. Modification for a large group of students who don't know each other, who will be working togethether on a project: Top 3, tell the students to find a) someone they don't know, b) someone of the opposite sex, c) someone they want to learn something from (or any other criteria). Then the students find three people, and write down their names. When the teacher calls out a number they go and find that person.
Simultaneous Roundtable
1. Each student gets a page with the following headings: Personal Statement, Response 1, Response 2, Response 3, Reflection based upon responses.2. The teacher asks a question or problem, the student writes their own thoughts in Personal Statement. (this activity works well as a summary or reflection activity).
3. The student then sends around their sheet of paper to the other team members who comment.
4. Student then reflects based upon comments.
Stand-up, Sit-down
1. Teacher makes a statement2. If it applies to you, stand up.
3. New statement, repeat.
Placemats
1. Each group is given an A3 page divided as shown below.2. Teacher gives a problem or question.
3. Each student writes their answer in their own corner.
4. Each student reads their own answers, others circle answers as others name the ones they have.
5. Collaborative answer in the middle: agree upon and most important parts.
Everyone's an Expert
In this exercise works well when the information being learned or reviewed can be broken into themes.For this example I'm going to use the elements of fiction: character, plot, point of view, setting, conflict.
What Do We Know?
This exercise works well when introducing a new topic. For example: The Maori of New Zealand.Stations
Create different centres for students to move between and complete activities at each.Variation: Have 2-3 students create a station (purpose, info to be learned, activity) and then all students rotate through all the stations.
Keywords
1. Students brainstorm keywords about a topic and write them on the board. Each student shares one.2. In pairs, have students sort the keywords into 3-5 groups
3. Name the groups.
4. Assign groups to each circle for group projects, or use the groups to see what they know, use it as a review, or have them make sentences and synonyms with the ideas.
Red Light, Green Light
A discussion exercise that allows students to express their opinions with coloured cards.1. Put a question to the group.
2. Get them to respond by raising a card: agree (green), neutral (yellow), disagree (red).
3. By group, or individually, elicit feedback and conversation.
Tableau
A drama exercise. Represent the central conflict by creating a tableau (frozen picture) with students in the roles.-Choose a moment before/after the conflict to show pros/cons of a situation or idea, an emotion, belief, or abstract concept.
-Engage group in creating particular environment, elicit ideas for how it should be constructed, the main roles and important actions
-Start with one student in the tableau, as each student joins they have to add to the overall scene.
-Give students the chance to step-out of the tableau to observe the whole.
-Variation: each student does a gesture or says a line.
This exercise can lead into TOTO (below).
Sculpting
Like the tableau, but one student has an idea and sculpts the others into a frozen image.-Sculptor must physically position the bodies to ensure it's their vision being sculpted.
-The rest of the class observes / discusses the conflict being illustrated.
Hot Seat
One student (or the teacher) sits in the middle and is interviewed by everyone else. The person on the hot seat may ask for help. Help can be defined as trading with someone else, a jump-in, advice.Role-on-the-Wall
The outline of a person is placed on a wall.1. Students write (brainstorm) on the inside of the cut-out everything they (or the character) is thinking and feeling (internal struggle)
2. Around the cut-out they write the external factors they (or the character) is facing.
3. Discussion follow-up: What advice might you give the person?
Alphabet Race
This exercise can work as a brainstorming activity, or as a review activity.1. Divide the class into teams of 6-8. Line two groups up beside each other - they'll be competing against each other.
2.On the wall in front of the groups is a sheet of paper with the alphabet and space beside each letter.
3. The teacher gives the topic, (ex.action words) and the person at the front of the line runs up and writes something for A, the next for B etc.
4. The row who gets through the entire alphabet first wins.
5. Collect the papers at the front of the room. Cross-off duplicate answers and review.
6. If this was a brainstorm, have each group choose the 5 most important ideas from their own, or another list.
Teacher-in-role
1. The teacher takes on a role and acts the part.2. Students interact with the character, ask her questions.
3. Students can be given supporting roles based on a discussion/brainstorm about the background and what other roles are required.
Graffiti Board
This is a good warm-up and reflection activity.1. Give a topic (American Indians).
2. Ask all students to go up to the chalkboard and write down keywords based on what they already know/remember.
3. Review what is on the board and use it to frame future discussions/lessons.
Role-in-a-Bag
1. Bring 4-5 objects centered around a theme.2. Use the objects to have students construct a character around a theme.
3. Examine and discuss the objects and how they correlate, what they would mean to the character.
Example: The topic is WWII. The objects are a felt Star of David, a primary school workbook, some marbles
-Who might this person have been? Age? Religion? Likes and dislikes? Family?
-Based on what know about WWII, what might his/her experience have been?
-What might have happened to him/her?
There could be a second bag of objects for another person, and then they could discuss how they interacted, compare/contrast the two.
Next steps could be an improvisation, writing a story, drawing a picture, making a tableau.
Theater of the Oppressed (TOTO)
This can be used for the conflict in a story, for teaching about bullying, for teaching students about peer helping etc.1. Facilitator makes a tableau using students as the characters. The tableau should show conflict or unrest.
2. Next the group works together to create a new tableau that shows a solution, or "perfection" in what is trying to be achieved.
3. Take both tableaus and discuss the in-between steps from conflict to resolution.
This activity could stop there, or next steps can be taken to further the scenario.
4. Groups take the tableau and turn it into a short scenario with roles: main oppressor/main oppressed, subsidiary oppressor/oppressed, allies/floaters
5. The group performs the scene for the class.
6. The group performs the scene again for the class, this time classmates can yell "stop" and pause the action. At this point the person who yelled stop can change the direction of the scene by making a suggestion, or can come-up and try out an idea. Note: the class can only help/replace the oppressed character. The oppressor must stay in their role and cannot have any help. This helps students see that a situation might be difficult, but that there are always choices and it is possible for the opressed person to develop strategies to change the situation.
Listening Pairs
This is a good reflection or review exercise.1. Students assigned either role A or role B.
2. In pairs As are required to answer the question posed by the teacher. Bs listen without speaking.
3. New round, switch partners. Bs talk, As listen.
4. Repeat.
This activity could be adapted to have each partner do a pro/con etc.
Hey Classmates!
This is an icebreaker, but it could be adapted for other uses.1. Students sit in a circle, with a leader in the middle.
2. Leader says: "Hey Classmates!", the class responds "Hey *person's name*"
3. The leader then says "I love my classmates, especially those who..."
4. Everyone to whom the statement applies stands up and finds another chair. The person left over becomes the leader.
Other
You can use the following list to reflect upon the types of activities you use to engage learners in the classroom, this might give you an idea of where to focus your energies:Cooperative learning (small groups of students)
Using real-life problems
Group projects
Multiple drafts of written work
Student evaluations of one another's work
Reflective writing/journaling
Electronic quizzes with immediate feedback in class
Extensive lecturing (not student-centered)
Selected examination methods
Short-answer exams
Term and research papers with a single deadline
Term and research papers with a deadline for draft/final versions
Multiple-choice exams